Phi for All

Funny. Let me finish that for you. "I..." was crazy to think a party in the present could be responsible for the actions of a party from the past. Article 1 of the US Constitution claims that slaves are 3/5 of a white person. Pretty sure that's the origin of white supremacy in the US, over a hundred years earlier. Truth matters to me.

I'm a few inches over six feet, so it was a real shock visiting Europe and seeing suits of plate armor from a few hundred years ago. The folks who ate best back then were short and mostly fat.

You forgot ignorance.

Did you forget this part? Did you think I couldn't find it? Are you going to admit it, retract it, double-down on it?

Oh, we took responsibility for that one, and gave all the race-hating Democrats to Nixon when he asked for them. That's an historical fact. They've been yours for 50 years, and are especially vocal right about now. What are the Republicans going to do about them, hmm?

It's possible I misunderstood what you wrote, and I invite you to point out where. Wow. So instead you ignore any horrible thing your party does, as long as it's not as bad as the things you hold the Democrats responsible for. Democrats have a YUGE circle of responsibility, while your GOP has a little bitty circle over its head. You can't even think in terms of truth anymore, it seems.

You're moving the goalposts. You said the current party is responsible for the past party's failings. How on EARTH is today's Democratic leadership responsible for this campaign from 150 years ago? I think you're selectively broadening the definition of "responsibility" to remove all meaningfulness from it. Is Trump responsible for the Teapot Dome Scandal? I think it was Harding, but by your standards of "responsible", maybe he was.

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I read a great analysis once about how we need to stop building hydroelectric dams in third world countries, which makes a lot of money for us, but rarely helps much with their infrastructure and jobs, and leaves the country pretty messed up. Instead, we should spend a fraction of the cost and just give every household an energy-efficient refrigerator, eliminating the need for a dam in the first place, and endearing ourselves to the populace every time they open up their new gift from the US. Maybe the same tactic could help in North Korea (South Korea makes a couple of appliances, right?), provided we looped the Kim dynasty into it somehow so they can "liberate" their own people and start moving into century 21. We can't do anything like this as long as the current administration is wearing it's MAKE KIM DEAD caps.

It's irrelevant given the context in which you brought it up. Despite who created it, the EPA is in jeopardy from the current administration for no other reason than it costs corporations money to respect the beneficial regulations it enforces, which were put into law by bi-partisan representatives of the People. To put someone in the job who isn't going to do the goddamn job and enforce those rules is yet another Republican sodomization of the constitutional procedures of our government. It's reprehensible representation, and besides screwing the People out of the work they should be doing, they're taking the pay for it as well. Way to go, party of business.

Wow, I didn't. I may be way off, but I thought rangerx had a couple decades on me. Senile incontinence jokes are probably funnier for folks south of seventy. But hey, you can say anything if you're just being honest, or it was just a joke, right?

I don't see how the current party can be responsible for the failings of those before them. Sins of the father much? Claim credit, share the responsibility for correcting your failings, and move forward. But don't take a government agency funded by the People's money and do anything less than the best its capable of. Your party shares the responsibility for the Katrina response by a FEMA purposely hobbled by the leadership at the time. It left us dangerously exposed then, and it's being done to even more agencies now. The current attitude towards truth and reality seems to be leading us into blunders we've suffered historically, and not that long ago either. Truth helps you learn.

I think intelligence builds on itself. Not sure if it's an exponential process, but I think a few inspired ideas can lead to rapid improvements. If the improvements can lead to even more inspired ideas, I think the progression to technology might happen. Is the hive mind capable of inspired ideas? I keep thinking about the steps between a chimpanzee using a twig to fish for termites, and making a belt out of grass fibers to hold his favorite termite twig so he doesn't have to make a new one every time he's hungry. Is that similar to ants climbing onto a floating leaf to cross the water?

We'd all be happier if you understood that Kennedy cutting Eisenhower's very high marginal rates back then has little to do with the situation in the present, where corporations are sitting already on record amounts of cash and lobby for further tax exemptions. Do you remember that Kennedy also raised minimum wage, unemployment benefits, and Social Security benefits, as well as increasing Eisenhower's highway construction funding? Is any of that being thought of now, between the Wall, the reduction of consumer protection, and the other efforts to raise the wealth of the most wealthy? Also, Kennedy knew the Soviets were up to no good.

I can acknowledge Eisenhower's Republican vision of the US as one of the best all-around strategies for building up the overall prosperity of a nation. Does that really mean I'm disparaging him and all Republicans by vilifying a current Republican practice? Come on, is it really that hard to accept that times have changed, and that a LOT of current GOP leadership is as far away from the Republican stances of the 70s EPA as you can get? What's different? 60 years of increasing amounts of villianaires, for one.

Create the controversy, then demand students be shown there is one. It's a bit like riling people up to commit crimes, then pointing to the rise in crime and claiming you're the only one that can help.

That sounds distinctly American. Actually, in the US they would then take the benefit and give it to the employer for hiring the disabled, so a double-whammy for the taxpayers!

Why on Earth would that matter to a damaging strategy that's obviously been developed afterward, Man of Straw?

It should be a matter of hours (3-6, iirc). There haven't been any calls for a shorter time from staff, so I doubt the Admins would have changed it purposely. The Empress of Everything has our backs on this one, and she'll sort it very soon. We like picky, and feel you should have the time to indulge in its intricacies.

And walking from the center to a corner would feel like downhill where the water pools. I understand where the Moontanman is coming from now.

Would this tend to make the water pool in the corners as the cube rotated?

Wouldn't stepping onto a wall be supported as much as the "floor" he started from? I'm not sure why there would be an uphill/downhill difference on the inside of the spinning cube. But if the cube is big enough, I think it would feel just like the torus, except the corners require a different step than a flat floor/wall, perhaps.

This is classic Republican strategy. If the EPA makes your businesses jump through hoops just to protect citizens, put someone in there who will mess it up good. Same with Education, same with FEMA (remember Katrina?), same with all the watchdog agencies that are there to protect us against just such people and tactics. I've worked with facilities that manufacture medical diagnostic equipment. All of them have to meet an enormous amount of regulations to satisfy FDA that their products meet federal requirements. And while all of them bitch about it, I never heard a single one of them say that NOT doing it would be better. It would be less work for them, but they all seemed to understand that their products are successful BECAUSE they're held to such high standards. In fact, in some areas like disposables, they worked to exceed the federal requirements just so they could brag about it. The villianaires that are trying to hobble our government aren't interested in fairness, they're interested in more profit. I hate this strategy even more than when Bush II implemented because it also weakens us in EXACTLY the way Putin/Russia benefits most from, which I'm sure is just coincidence. The conservative fears going around the world are aiding the Russians in keeping allies apart and isolating strong countries like the US and Germany. We're in trouble, and Trump is giving away or spoiling most of our best relationships while he pits his base against the rest of the citizenry IN HIS OWN COUNTRY. He's the greatest American Russia has ever produced, or he's doing a top-shelf imitation of it.

I remember you. I don't remember the venom or getting under people's skin, so you must have done a fairly good job of being your ideal person. Almost a thousand posts for that persona.

The best thing about that book is that it inspired you to go back to your studies. Now you should put it back on the shelf because it's a popular view of physics (and not a very good one at that, from the professional reviews) that is pogo-jumping around a bunch of concepts you need to understand in a more formal setting. Science knowledge is a layered process, and you often need a good base in one area before you can really grasp another. Congratulations on going back for your degree, and on finding inspiration in science. Trust me, learning it the right way will keep you from spending any more time spinning your wheels. Welcome to the forum.

I never mentioned you once, on purpose. This isn't a subjective argument. These are my words, bro. Lose your defensive filter, since this isn't about you, it's about your ideas. I meant that if we look for "answers" or "proof", when we think we've found them we stop looking any further. That's a big part of why science works with theory instead, so it's constantly refreshed, tested, and updated. Sorry I wasn't clearer.